Friday, February 10, 2017

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali dropped a bombshell on Twitter this evening, asking if a senior minister had resigned over the 1MDB imbroglio.

“Talk is that the minister did not want to be complicit with 1MDB. Follow the developments,” he tweeted, without elaborating.

However, Malaysiakini contacted several people within the ruling coalition, including current ministers and former ministers, who claimed to be in the dark over the matter or have not heard of such a development.

Many of them requested not to be quoted, but Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Gani, who was willing to go on record, told Malaysiakini, “I have no idea on this. Is news to me.”

Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, who was also willing to speak on record, told Malaysiakini: “It’s definitely not me”.

He added that the possibility of a minister resigning was never raised during the cabinet meeting nor the Umno supreme council meeting.

Nazri alleged Azmin’s claim was a diversionary tactic.

“I think when (former minister) Zaid Ibrahim joined DAP, it cause a big split in the opposition.

“So, now they are trying to create a diversion,” he said.

Azmin’s claim set social media abuzz, with several users asking who the senior minister may be.

However, there was no activity on Twitter from the Selangor menteri besar after he posted the claim.

Penang exco member Afif Bahardin, a close ally of Azmin, also speculated about who the senior minister could be by tagging ministers who are on Twitter.

Afif, who is PKR deputy youth chief, was also bombarded by similar questions but merely replied: “Just wait”.